Probably the majority of scholars today understand Ephesians and the Pastoral Epistles as the works of authors intending to bring Paul’s legacy to bear on a later generation. Comparison to the Acts of the Apostles has often figured prominently in discussions of this body of literature, for Acts represents yet another way that the legacy of Paul was remembered in the early church (Pervo 2010: 149–56; see also ch. 6, this volume).

Some of these differences are grammatical and stylistic; others are more conceptual. In the case of Ephesians, for example, scholars have drawn attention to verbose liturgical language, where very long sentences with repetition and the piling together of synonyms abound. Sometimes typical Pauline expressions, such as the use of the address ‘my brothers [and sisters]’ for the general membership of the community, and underlining the personal relationship between the Apostle and his churches (e.g., Rom 7: 4; 1 Cor 1: 11), fade from view as is the case with both Colossians and Ephesians.

In Colossians and Ephesians, Paul’s organic body of Christ image, which refers to the commitment and interdependence of the whole community, has been altered so that Christ becomes the head of the community, the body (cf. Col 1: 18–20; 2: 9–10, 19; Eph 1: 22–3; 4: 14–16; 5: 23). Related to this is the move to more directive instruction and regulations in Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastorals, whereas Paul’s instructions often appear to be less determined and more flexible, with appeals to conscience and imitation of the Apostle and of Christ (e.g., 1 Cor 10: 23–11: 1).

G. Sellin, Der Brief an die Epheser (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008), 58 argues extensively that Ephesians is not written by Paul.